Dick Spotswood: Chicago convention could be wild ride for North Bay Democrats

When initially selected in the spring, the seven North Bay-North Coast delegates and one alternate to the Aug. 19-22 Democratic National Convention in Chicago understood their posts to be mostly ceremonial. At best, it was a chance to rub shoulders with party and media bigshots.

The Windy City in August is no picnic on the sands of Stinson Beach. It’s reminiscent of summer in sweltering Bakersfield.

Instead of spending their time listening to boring speakers, delegates from the North Bay’s congressional District 2 might find themselves playing the role of national king or queen maker.

Our politically “deep blue” district runs from the Golden Gate to Oregon. Rep. Jared Huffman sits in Congress as the representative. The San Rafael Democrat, who is automatically a voting delegate, will be the effective leader of the Second District delegation.

Democratic delegates are selected by online polling with all registered Democrats allowed to vote. Few do. Only party insiders or potential delegates’ friends bother to cast ballots. For both parties, the delegate selection process is aimed at each party’s base. Nowadays, that means left-leaning progressives and organized labor for Democrats, with “Trumpicans” representing “America First” values for the GOP.

As progressives demanded, the categories of California Democratic convention delegates are divided by gender-identification preferences. There are three categories: self-identified females, self-identified males and gender nonbinary.

The North Bay-North Coast female delegates include Susan Bolle, Katherine Rice (no relation to Supervisor Katie Rice), Crystal Martinez and Meredith Matthews.

Bolle is Huffman’s appointee to Marin’s Democratic Central Committee. Rice is a partner in GingerBread Capital which invests in women-led ventures. Martinez is a Marin Community College trustee. Matthews is the mayor of Arcata in Humboldt County.

The three males from District 2 are Chris York, Tom McInerney and Brian Colbert. McInerney and Colbert are both past San Anselmo mayors. York was endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. The sole alternate is Larkspur Councilmember Gabe Paulson.

Last spring, 31 Democrats vied for District 2 convention delegate posts. Bolle was the top vote getter with 387 registered Democrats voting for her. Paulson became an alternate with only 91 votes. There wasn’t much competition to be eligible to pay your own way for four days in the United Center on Chicago’s West Side.

If, as many pundits predict, President Joe Biden soon will forgo renomination enabling him to retire with all flags flying, Chicago will be the place to be for every serious Democrat.

All North Bay-North Coast delegates are Biden loyalists. Like Democrats from around the nation, there’s great affection for “Scranton Joe.” While they share the same doubts of most Americans as to Biden’s age-related frailty, they’ll stick with the president for the time being.

If Biden withdraws, there is a chance Vice President Kamala Harris (the former San Francisco district attorney) will be anointed by the president and party leaders as the presidential nominee. Selecting Harris’ VP will then be the big question.

South Carolina’s powerful Rep. James Clyburn suggests that, leading up to the Chicago conclave, there should be wide-open primaries coupled with intensely viewed debates. A younger, dynamic and widely popular nominee could then be selected by delegates on national television. Doing that would be a nightmare for former President Donald Trump and the “make America great again” Republicans.

In an open convention, Marin, Sonoma and North Coast delegates will find themselves in a political wonderland. For four days, they will be among the most sought-after smalltown politicos in the nation.

In the years before the 1970s, when state primary elections became the dominant means of selecting each major parties’ nominees, convention delegates made the final call. The results from that now out-of-fashion procedure were often excellent. That system produced the likes of former presidents Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.

Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.